Torsion rod stabilizer for motor vehicles



United States Patent Inventor Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Priority Al! John Mueller Blttenfeld, Germany March 29, 1968 Nov. 17, 1970 Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft Stuttgart-Unterturkheim, Germany April 1, 1967 Germany No. b52684 TORSION ROD STABILIZER FOR MOTOR VEHICLES 7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figsm US. Cl 267/154, 267/ 1 1 Int. Cl ..B60g 21/02,

[50] Field ofSearch 267/57, ll, 1(54) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,181,884 5/1965 Richards 267/57 3,388,762 6/l968 Bausch 267/11 Primary Examiner-James B. Marbert Attorney-Craig, Antonelli, Stewart & Hill ABSTRACT: A torsion rod stabilizer for motor vehicles which is secured with lugs arranged at its ends at wheel guide members and is rotatably supported with respect to the vehicle superstructure at the latter in two places, and which is provided with such a bend that the lugs and the center of the bend are disposed on opposite sides of the connecting line of the bearing points at the vehicle superstructure.

Patented Nov. 17, 1970 v I 3,540,714

mvzmon. ALF JOHN MULLER ATTORNEYS BACKGROUND oF THE I VENTION The present invention relates to a torsionrod stabilizer for motor vehicles which is so provided with a crank or offset that its spring stiffness is greater cornpared'to the torsion rods known heretofore and which additionally entails.the"a dvantage that with strong spring deflections ofthe wheels it acts i as underprotection for sensitive vehicle parts, for example, such as, the engine oil pan.

It is known in the prior art that thearrange nent of torsion rod stabilizers at the front or rear axleof rriotorvehicles encounters difficulties beCaus'ethespacecOnditions are, for the most part, very limited within thearea of the axIesQConsequently, the torsion rods hadtobe 'providedin general with I a crank or offset in order to enable the same to avoid duringspring deflections other structural parts such'as', for example, the engine oil pan or sump.

The heretofore customary cranked torsion rods, however, entailed the disadvantage that during inward spring deflections their arms carried out larger la'teraldeflections whereby' the space requirement to the wheel and jto thevehicle superstructure was increased, andfin that by an increase of the bending proportion or component the'torsion rods became softer so that their diameter and therewith their weight had to be increased which, in turn, lead to anin'crea'se in cost in the torsion rods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Zt'are thus disposed on opposite sides of the connecting line of Accordingly. the presentinvention is concerned-with the I task to avoid these disadvantagesjand to createa'torsion rod stabilizer for motor vehicles whose spring stiffness is not only not decreased by the crank or offset but evenincreased.

cle superstructure to rotate relative thereto and which is provided according to the present invention withsuch a bend or offset that the lugs andthe center of the bent or offset are disposed on opposite sides of the connectingline of the bearing points at the vehicle superstructure.

Accordingto a particularly advantageous construction of the present invention, the crank or offset is disposed thereby at least approximately within the plane of the "torsion rod arms. v

it is additionally of'advantage if the shape of the torsion rod stabilizer, within the area between the center of the offsetand the bearing points at the vehicle sup 'erstruictura doesnotes: I

'sentially deviate from the straight connecting line of these points.

According to a further preferred construction of thepresent invention, the angle between the connecting line of the bearing points and the connecting line between the center of the offset and one of the bearing points is to amount approximately to ID to l5", f

Accordingly,it isanpbjectof the present invention to pro vide a torsion rod stabilizer which effetct means, the aforementioned,shortcorni gs and drawbacks encountered with theprior construe ons Another object of the-present invention residesin atorsion rod stabilizer for motor'vehicles which is so constructedfthat;

its spring stiffness is greater than" thatiatt ainable, heretofore with the prior art torsion rods. 4 t r I A further object of the presentinventionresides in a torsion rod stabilizer for motor vehicles which'can bereadiIy accommodated within the limited space available -within the area of i the vehicle axles.

Still a further objectof the present invention r esides in a torsion rod stabilizer for'motor vehicles' which is not only relatively inexpensivedue tofthe srnall space requirements and. small size thereof but additionallyactsas underprotectionfor certain vehicle parts.

.These and further objects, features, and advantages of the present invention'will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for purposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, and wherein: Z Q

FIG. I is an elevational view of a torsion rod stabilizer in accordance with the present invention; and

H0. 2 is a partial, somewhat schematicelevational view of a passenger motor vehicle illustrating the installation of a torsion rod in accordance with the present invention in the front axle of a passenger motor vehicle. Referring howto the drawing'wherein like reference numerals aroused throughout the two views to designate like parts, and more particularly to FIG. I, the torsion rod stabilizer illustrated in'this FlG. comprises eyes or lugs l to be secured atthe wheelguidefmernbe'rs (not shown) of any conventional construction, while the bearing support points of the stabilizer at the vehicle superstructure. are' designated by reference numeral 23 the torsionrod arms disposed between the bearing points 2 and the lugs l are generally designated by reference numeral 3, and the center/of the offset or crank generally designated by reference numeral 4 is designated by reference, numeral 5. The lugs l and the center 5 of the offset thebearingpoints z.

The angl'e'q between the connecting line of the bearing points 2 and of the connecting line between thecenter 5 of the offset] and-one of the bearing points 2 at the vehicle superstructure amounts in the illustrated embodiment to about l2. The larger the angle a, the more increases the spring stiffnest of theftors'io'n rod during spring deflections because the then-effective lever arm is correspondingly decreased.

in the/example of the installation of a torsion rod'stabilizer illustrated in FIG; 2,'a frohtsection of apassenger' motor vehicle is illustrated whereby theTfront axle and the'torsion rodare illustratediin full line in the normal constructional position and-in dash line-i nthe fully spring-deflected position. It can be readily seen from this FIG. that the torsion rod in the fully spring -deflectedj positionis disposed lower than the oil pan" 6' of the vehicle within the area of its offset .4 so that the changes andirrt'odifrcations as are encompassed by the scope of the appended claims.

C im; 1. A torsion rod stabilizer for motor. vehicles which is secured with lugs arrangeda't its'ends at wheel guide members is rotatab ly supportedwith respect to the vehicle superstructure in two places at the;latter,,characterizecl in that the torsio'j iodstabilizerhas, such an offset that the lugs and magent of the offset are disposed on opposite sides of the bea'ri'rig lpoints Iatthe vehicle superstructure whereby, the sprin stiffness of the torsion rod stabilizer is substantially insta edi 2. torsion rod stabilizer according to claim I, wherein the off tisidifspo sed at least approximately within the plane of the "tamsm'dsnns; es

1 A torsionrod-stabili zer according to claim 2, wherein the shape of the stabilizer. within the area between the centerof the offset and 'th e bearing points at the vehicle superstructure does not essentially deviate 'frorn'the straight connecting line ofthes'ei points.

I 4. A'torsion rodsta'bilizer according to claim 3, wherein the angle betw'een the connecting line of the two bearing points andthe connecting line'between the center of the offset and one of said bearing'po'intsamounts to'about 10 to 15.

'5, torsion rodstabilizer according to claim 1, whcreinthe shape of the stabilizer within the area between the center of one of said bearing points amounts to about [0 to 15.

7. A torsion rod stabilizer according to claim ,1, wherein the angle between the connecting line of the two bearing points and the connecting line between the center of the offset and one of said bearing points amounts to about I 0 to 15. 

